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Great Snoring

The village of Great Snoring, between Fakenham and Wells in Norfolk, is, despite it's name, a fascinating place. I spent a lot of time researching the village and even dragged other members of the family there for a visit. The only problem being that my family never actually lived in Great Snoring or indeed anywhere near it! Just one tiny error in a census record had sent me on a complete wild goose chase!

Whilst researching my supposed family history in Norfolk, I started a one place study that I posted on Your Archives. As I don't actually have any ancestors from the village, I'm not adding to it but have included it here in case of interest to other genealogists of the area.

ESTATESGreat Snoring ManorManor records go back to the 1300s when the land was owned by the Bourgiloun family. The Shelton family built the current manor house in the 16th Century. By 1611 the family were in debt and the estate was bought by Thomas Richardson who was later speaker of the House of Commons. The house has frequently changed hands since with no family living in it for more than 30-40 years.

Great Snoring appears to have had a shop of some sort from before the 1790s as Thomas Raven, who died in 1799, was recorded in his will as a shop keeper. Walsingham, which was just 2 miles away, provided by 1839 a range of shops and services including a number of tailors, grocers, drapers, cabinet makers, painters and glaziers and shoe makers plus a watch maker, a glove maker, a plumber, and a hairdresser and perfumer. (Pigots 1839).

In 1854, Henry Savage is recorded as keeping a shop in Great Snoring and William Hill and Isiah Stanford as tailors. By 1888, dressmakers and shops have also been opened by Miss Sarah Brown and Miss Maria Savage and by Mrs Celia Bushell in addition to a shop run by James Howlett. By 1890, Miss Brown and Miss Savage's shop had disappeared, but Frederick Cook had opened an additional shop and Mrs Matilda Adams had a grocers service.

Until the mid 19th Century almost the whole village worked on the land or provided basic services to the village. Exceptions were the Perowne family who started a brickmakers in a neighbouring village before 1850 and Bushell brothers and their sons who made agricultural machines from at least the 1860s until the 1930s. In 1860 they successfully applied for a patent for their "improved agricultural machine". Specific jobs in which people were employed 1850 and 1910:

1838-1934 : The Walsingham Union Workhouse, Thursford Road The land for the workhouse appears to have been purchased from the Chad family of Thursford Hall in the next village. In the mid 19th Century ~20% of the population village lived in the Workhouse. Records of the Walsingham Poor Law Union are available at the Norfolk Record Office. The Workhouse was enlarged in 1849 to hold 350 inmates. Poor law unions were abolished in 1930 and the Workhouse was closed in 1934. The building was later used as a smallpox hospital but demolished in the 1990s.

Copyright Saint Seraphim's Trust 2012

TRANSPORT1839 - : Hero Coach Service to LondonDeparted from Black Lion, Walsingham to London Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning at 6.30am. Started in Wells and went via Fakenham, Newmarket and Cambridge. The return coach on Monday, Wednesday and Friday called at the Black Lion, Walsingham at 9pm.1857 - 1964 : Walsingham Station2 miles from Great Snoring the station offered trains to Fakenham and Wells that in turn provided connections to Norwich, King's Lyn, Peterborough, local lines in south Lincolnshire and the main East Coast line between London and EdinburghCOMMUNICATION1854 - Daily delivery and collection of post1892 - Telegraphs and money from WalsinghamENCLOSURES

1811 A local act was passed in parliament to enclose land in Great Snoring.

1813 Allotment to trustees of poor of Hindringham under Great Snoring Inclosure Award

1858 Order of Exchange of Lands between Rev Warner and Trustees of Poor of Hindringham

MIGRATIONAgricultural recession and enclosures in Norfolk resulted in significant migration from the land to London and the North. Between 1861 and 1901 over 100,000 people born in Norfolk (over 15% of the population) left the county. Over 50% went to London, 20% to Yorkshire and near 10% to each of Lancashire and Durham.Over 20 families left Great Snoring over this period the majority moving between 1861 and 1871 to 2 villages in Yorkshire: Rawmarsh, a mining and steel making village near Rotherham and the iron stone mining area of Guisbrough on the north Yorkshire moors just south of Middlesbrough. Families who left the village for Yorkshire include:

Many of the Great Snoring families lived in the same street or very close to each other in Yorkshire and maintained strong links initially with their home village. By 1881, at least 3 families had returned from the north to Great Snoring including Charles Southgate with his Yorkshire born wife Mary-Ann, George Page with his Country Durham born wife Elizabeth and Charles Simmons and his wife Maria.

RESOURCESLinks to national archives are included on the main page. Local archives holding resources on Great Snoring are listed below:Norfolk Record Office
Includes records on the Workhouse, Removal and Settlement orders and the Primitive Methodist Church.

The Bourgiloun family owned the manor from at least the 1300s. The Norfolk Record Office contains papers relating to the family from 1327. Ann Bourgiloun married Ralph Shelton and the manor passed to the Shelton family. The Topographical History of the County of Norfolk provides more details

The Sheltons built the manor house, which still stands in the village today. By the 1600s the Sheltons were in significant debt. By the mid-C16th the Kytson family also have some ownership of the manor.

1611-1695 Richardsons (Whites 1845)

Manor bought by Thomas Richardson, later Speaker of the House of Commons.

1695-1715 Wards of Hindringham

1715-???? Nuns of Thorpland

18?? - 18?? John Dugmore, Swaffham (Whites 1854)

The records of the Dugmore family are in the Norfolk Record Office.

18?? - 18?? Chad, Thursford Hall 1892 - Joseph Stonehewer Scott-Chad

18?? - 19?? Lee-Warner, Walsingham Abbey

The Lee-Warner family was descended from John Warner, Bishop of Rochester 1637-1666. The archives of the Lee-Warner family including documents relating to Great Snoring are held at the Norfolk Record Office.

1577 Richard or Robert West (his will is in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 1605-1619)

1610-1613 Robert Pearson, later Archdeacon of Suffolk (Dic of Nat Bio)

1639 Edward Debbs

1655 David Anderson

1662 Thomas Chapman

1690 Nathaniel Rothwell

1710 Thomas Langford

1734 Robert Leake

1762 Andrew Alvis

1801-1831 James Fawcett, Prof. Divinity, Cambridge University (Dictionary of National Biography)

1831-1851 Christopher Stannard

1851-1896 George Henry Marsh

1891-1897 Edward Haversham Whall, Curate in Charge

1897-1903 Canon R.P. Roseveare

1903- Charles Lawrence Capel Cure

1903- Alfred Leedes Hunt

SCHOOL TEACHERS

1845 - 1851 Benjamin Bray

1851 - 1892 Christopher Mallett

Christopher was born in Blakeney, Norfolk in 1829 and was the son of a tailor. In 1851, Christopher lodged with Benjamin Bray's family in Great Snoring and in 1853 Christopher married Benjamin's sister Catherine Leeder Bray who later served as School Mistress. Christopher is buried in the village churchyard with a splendid gravestone. The Mallet's cottage on the High Street served as the Post Office. (See census records)

1829 Mary Cook, singlewoman from Great Snoring to Foulsham1829 John Plane from Great Snoring to Wighton 1833 John Claxton and Elizabeth Austic his wife and child, Phoebe1833 Una Worship, widow of Thomas Brinton from Great Snoring to Thursford 1833 Spirah Grange, Eleanor his wife and child, Charles (13 weeks) from Little Walsingham to Great Snoring